Species like the black-tailed jackrabbit and upland sandpiper will see their habitat protected permanently in Harper County through a conservation easement, also known as a voluntary land protection agreement.
The legal contract will keep about 5,000 acres wild with grazing animals such as cattle.
The Nature Conservancy, a global nonprofit with operations in Oklahoma, bought the land intending to preserve grasslands for habitat and continue carbon dioxide storage. It plans to sell the ranch with the conservation agreement later.
The group estimates the Southern Plains sequesters millions of tons of the greenhouse gas in its interconnected system of grasses.
“Our grasslands are among the world’s most endangered habitat types,” said Mike Fuhr, director of The Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma, in an email.
Keeping cattle or other grazing animals will help manage grasslands, preventing woody encroachment.
The nonprofit closed on the property on Dec. 31, 2024, and announced its conservation plans in February. Unlike some of the Conservancy’s properties, the ranch will not be open for public recreation.
The group plans to survey the land for the federally-threatened lesser prairie chicken in the spring after locating mating grounds known as lek sites.
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